Guns and Cyber Roses
by lady tecuma
Summary: Movieverse, sequel to Sparks. Chapter 2: Prowl and Barricade undertake an investigation, and more about the current political situation of Cybertron is revealed. And First Aid makes the painful realization he is still Ratchet's glitch.
1. Chapter 1

**_AN: _**(Bows) And here it is! Much thanks go to VioletLight, Hearts of Eternity, and Litahatchee for betaing and dealing with my nerves. And even after all is said and done, I still do not like how this chapter came out, but I've put off this story long enough!

A few quick things. This chapter is basically setup-so forgive me please if it does not read well, is a little jarring, or does not have enough information. I can promise you the following chapters will be reading much smoother and will explain any and/or all questions you may have.

I also am starting to have keyboard problems of the highest order-so my updates will be a little fragmented until I can get it repaired. Towards that end,_ Intimacy_ will be updated over the weekend-with this fic getting chapter 2 by next Friday. _System of a Down_ may get an update by Monday.

This fic takes place _long_ after the events of Sparks.

Credit: Thanks ever so much to Violet and Lita for allowing me to use the sparklings they've come up with and their ideas-Violet for letting me borrow Nightshade-her idea of Nightshade and Soundwave, Siren, Nightwave, and Starburst, along with the idea of their trine and caretakers. Lita, thanks ever so much for letting me borrow Sunshadow-Nightfire needed a baby brother!

I don't own Transformers or the characters listed that I've borrowed, but I do own Artemis, Nightfire, Polarity and Lifeline. Use any of them and any of my other ideas without my permission and Frenzy gets to play with your computer, while I hit something called the 'report abuse' button.

* * *

**_Guns and Cyber Roses_**

_**Arrival of the Younglings**_

Life for the Autobots and Decepticons had changed considerably since the human year of 2007. Sparklings had been born, old foes had become allies, and the discovery of a lost colony was helping the struggling Cybertronian race rebuild. Optimus Prime and Nightshade had agreed to a peace treaty as leaders of their respective factions- Optimus for the Autobots, and Nightshade for the Decepticons, with Soundwave as her second- and so things had started to become quiet.

Relatively speaking. There had been a minority- Autobot and Decepticon- that didn't agree with the treaty. Banding together, they created a new faction and declared war on the newly reunited Cybertronians. So while the fighting had sadly continued, it was significantly lesser and more quiet compared to the brutal Energonbaths that had been the norm of the Great War.

With the introduction of the colonists, Optimus (and a rather reluctant Nightshade) agreed to a non-partial Senate being elected to represent the populace at large. The countless vorns of fighting had only served to cement in the faction lines… Autobot, Decepticon, and Neutral. Optimus and Nightshade remained leaders of their respective factions while the Neutrals elected their own leader to represent them.

The next matter had been finding a place to live. Not wanting to impose any more on their human friends, the Autobots had relocated to a nearby solar system, with the Decepticons (warily, it should be added) joining them. Two moons and one planet were quickly turned into colonies, with various outposts scattered about. The planet where the Cybertronian suriviors of Floatlia were originally found (Styxia) was fully settled, with a massive orbital space station being built above it. In this way, the remaining Cybertronians settled down, wanting nothing more to watch and help the younger generation grow, a miracle many had believed would never happen.

* * *

_**Outpost Ri-Omega**_

_**Layrissan Solar System**_

"Fiyah!"

"Yes, I heard you." Chromia said breathlessly, doing a last minute check of the suite she and Ironhide lived in.

"Fiyah!"

"Yes sweetspark, Nightfire's coming back." Here the silver-blue femme turned her attention to the playpen, picking up a small bundle of black armor. A vorn past she and Ironhide had sparked again-the result a little mech they had named Sunshadow. He was absolutely adorable, wanting nothing more than to play or snuggle into his creators and his beloved "Fiyah".

A pity then, it had taken Nightfire quite a while to adjust to the idea of another sibling-as she had _not_ been pleased. The most she would comment on her new baby brother was "Put it back." Sunshadow on the other hand, had been instantly entranced by his older sister and idolized her, struggling to follow her everywhere and do what she was doing. His tiny spark was overflowing with unconditional love for his Creators and her, and eventually Nightfire found herself giving in.

Sunshadow also idolized Ironhide. If he wasn't trying to follow his sister, he was trying to follow his father. And much to the humor of the Autobots, the wrath of Ratchet, and the fear of the Decepticons, Sunshadow was showing early tendencies of wanting to run around and blow up things…

"Fiyah come?"

"In a few joors." Chromia answered, pausing to gently rub one of Sunshadow's audios. The sparkling squeaked in pleasure. "But before that, we're going to try and find your father so he can give you a little Energon. Mama's got a few things she needs to finish at her work."

"Hide!" Sunshadow squeaked, grabbing his 'boom booms'. "Dada!"

* * *

_**Styxia**_

_**Ky-Alexa Academy**_

The transport was stuffed to capacity as it pulled away from the building. Inside, a dark-blue femme yawned before violently thrusting her legs out in front of her, ignoring the curses of the other occupants. Her companion, a smaller blue and white femme smiled sheepishly at the poisonous glares aimed their way before attempting to stretch out her own limbs as well.

"Nightfire, I'm really not in the mood to diffuse another fight. I just want to go home, see my Creators, recharge…"

"You're making it sound like I'm looking for a fight."

"You and 90 percent of the student population." The femme muttered. "Please, for the love of Primus, let's just have a quiet trip back to Omega?" The pleading tone had Nightfire raising an optic ridge.

"Are you okay Artemis?" Her friend smiled softly, shaking her head.

"I didn't get much recharge last night-I was too excited to get home. And my last batch of exams weren't very kind." Here she stretched; the artificial light glinting off the sky-blue accents on her armor.

"Offline on the shuttle then. Lifeline will probably be happy for the company." Nightfire said. The transport shuddered to a stop and the dark-blue femme grinned as half the occupants left, resulting in a significant amount of free space. Shuttering her optics in bliss, she prepared to stretch out once again…

Only to pull back her legs and snarl at the mech who had suddenly appeared in front of her, red optics narrowed, piggy-backing a white and yellow mech.

"Move your legs, glitch!" He snarled.

"Frag you!" Nightfire snarled back.

"Polarity, nice to see you too." Artemis remarked dryly. "I see Lifeline's already in oblivion." The silver-gray Decepticon grinned, shifting position so that the 'bot offline on his back wouldn't fall off.

"I found him like this at the stop." Grunting, he slid the white and yellow mech onto a nearby seat. "Don't think he'll be onlining 'til we're back at Omega."

"I can hear Ratchet screaming now." Nightfire murmured. Then her optics narrowed and a wicked looking knife materialized in her right hand as Polarity drew back a foot for another kick.

"Do so and I will gut you." She declared.

"Do that and I solemnly promise your computer will never function again." Polarity countered. Artemis groaned and muted her audios, shuttering her optics. Maybe if she was lucky, Nightfire and Polarity would kill each other before they reached the outpost where their Creators were.

* * *

_**Ri-Omega, one joor later**_

Sunstreaker scowled, checking his chronometer.

"So where are the bratlings already?"

"They should be enroute." Optimus answered. "It will take a few joors."

"Missing your spawn?" Prowl asked. This earned him a dirty look from the golden twin.

"Frag you."

"Where's Ironhide?" Elita quickly asked, wanting to diffuse the argument before it even began.

"Out at the landing pad, checking over its security." Prowl replied.

"Soundwave already beat him to that this morning." Optimus said, his optics never leaving the computer screen in front of him. He and Elita were trying to finish off as much work as possible-so that when Artemis arrived, they could spend a good amount of time with her.

"Actually, he's been out there from…" Here Prowl stopped, raising a hand to an audio. "Excuse me a minute." He turned away from the group, listening intently to the report that was coming in.

"Stop checking the time Sunny." Elita said, frowning at something on the datapad in front of her.

"Like you're not doing the same for Artemis!" Sunstreaker snapped back.

"Sunstreaker, in the name of Primus, just relax!" Optimus said, giving the younger mech an astonished glance. "You're worse than usual!" Here Sunstreaker bit back a snarl, dragging in air though his vents.

"…I'm sorry." He finally said. "Just that…I've missed the punk, you know? And then with that recent report of fighting breaking out in that sector near Styxia…" A hand placed itself on his shoulder, and the golden mech turned his head slightly to see Prowl standing alongside him.

"Everything will be fine." The black and white said. "Don't forget, you're not the only one feeling this way. Everybody here misses them-and they're worried about their safety as well."

"Straxus wouldn't dare attack the youngling transports." Elita chimed in, coming over to stand on Sunstreaker's other side. "Not unless he and his followers want to become the most hunted 'bots this side of the galaxy."

"Primus knows he's made enough threats about it though." Optimus said, his eyes narrowing. "And he and his group have been too quiet recently." His mate looked over at him.

"Something to talk about with Nightshade then?" Optimus nodded.

"Yes."

* * *

_**Youngling transport, halfway between Styxia and Ri-Omega**_

"And I said that no, we'd do it _**my way**_. Because when we did it _**my **_way, we _**always**_ came out on top-"

"Why in the Pit is Starburst here with us?" Nightfire groaned, sliding down into her chair. Covering her optics, she glanced at the far end of the transport to the commotion-a group of young Seekers were clustered together, listening to a story being told by a red and white femme in their ranks.

"I thought you were still snapping at Polarity." Artemis commented. Then she blinked as an orange/red and white hand thrust a can of Energon in her face.

"Here. Your systems are sending me alarms clear across the transport." The owner of the hand said. Artemis accepted the can with a smile.

"Thanks Siren." The new femme gratefully sank into a nearby seat, flexing the rotors on her back.

"Do you mind if I stay here with you for a while?" She asked.

"Considering how bad that lot is starting to carry on over there, feel free." Artemis answered, taking a sip of Energon.

"If anyone asks, I'm not related to her." Siren muttered as she glanced at the femme Seeker, who was now starting to yell at another 'bot. Then her optics shifted over to Lifeline-who was still deep in recharge on the nearby seat, spread eagled with his mouthplates wide open.

"How come you're not out cold like him?" Artemis asked, taking another sip of Energon. The air-rescue femme smiled, rubbing a hand over her face.

"Stimulant-Energon. I should be offlining right about now but I want to see my Creators before I close my optics."

"You would think hearing her whine would actually make you offline." Nightfire commented, giving the Seeker femme a dirty look. Then she made a face.

"Oh Primus, did I just sound like _Wheelie_?!"

"You did." Siren answered sagely. Then she burst out into a fit of giggles as Nightfire proceeded to slam her head into the headrest of the chair in front of her. "Oh stop that, you'll give yourself CPU damage!"

"Like that would change anything." Artemis muttered.

"I heard that." Nightfire hissed.

"You were supposed to." Her friend countered, taking another gulp of Energon.

"You want to get a new set of vents? I can cut them up nice and pretty for you."

"I knew it. You clearly have a fixation with your knives."

"I do not!"

"Stop it!" Siren barked. "Artemis, drink your Energon and take a nap. Nightfire, stop…" Here she blinked as the dark-blue femme pulled one of the aforementioned knives out of her subspace and started to inspect it. "Stop acting like your Creators."

"How am I supposed to act then?"

"Sane would be a good start." Polarity piped up from his seat behind the femmes. Then he ducked as the knife was immediately chucked at him. The weapon went flying down towards the end of the transport, burying itself in the wall right by the Seeker gathering.

"HEY! STOP THROWING YOUR KNIVES, YOU TRIGGER-HAPPY GLITCH!" Was the resulting screech.

"Oh go suck your exhaust." Nightfire growled to herself as she got out of her seat, intent on recovering her knife.

* * *

_**Ri-Omega, three joors later**_

It was with some trepidation then, that the group of mechs and femmes assembled on the launchpad, all optics fixed on one particular transport that was coming down. Some were happily bonded pairs, others were not. Several were even raising a youngling by themselves.

"…They're probably just going to recharge and drink Energon for the first two orns." Ratchet said finally, breaking the silence.

"That's fine, I'll just be happy to see them again." Nightshade answered. In her arms, a black sparkling squeaked, blinking ruby optics up at her.

"Mine." Nightshade smiled at this, gently pressing a kiss to the sparkling's head.

"I know Nightwave. Everything is your 'mine'." She said. In Chromia's arms, Sunshadow narrowed his optics. Not wanting to be outdone, he twittered up at Chromia.

"Fiyah?"

"She's in there, see?" Chromia cooed, pointing a finger at the incoming transport. "'Fire is in there, sweetspark."

"I think the question would be if she's killed anyone by now." Thundercracker commented, coming over to stand alongside her. "That's an awful long flight between here and Styxia…"

"Nightfire is a paragon of self control and restraint." Ironhide rumbled. Then his optics narrowed as snickers and snorts started to come from the group.

"You keep thinking that." Sideswipe chortled.

"Nightfire: Paragon of chaos and mayhem." Soundwave said in his usual monotone, but there was a sly glint in his optics.

"If you want chaos and mayhem, speak to those two." Ironhide countered, jerking a thumb at Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. The golden twin's optics narrowed.

"Oh no no. If you want _that-_" Here one finger jabbed the air at Thundercracker, Dirge, and Starscream. "Look at that lot. They have chaos, mayhem, and the…the…"

"Clone?" His twin offered.

"I don't even think clone accurately describes Starburst, lugnut."

"That's my sparkling you're talking about, Sunstreaker." Nightshade growled.

"Look, the transport's landed!" Optimus exclaimed. Immediately, all attention turned to the ship, with twelve pairs of optics intensely scanning for eight familiar spark signatures.

Breems passed. The ship was now almost completely empty-with Creators leading their younglings away. Elita frowned.

"…They were listed as being on this transport, right?" She ventured. Soundwave pulled away from Nightshade, striding over to the transport ramp and heading inside. Several more breems passed, and then the Decepticon communication officer reappeared, waving over the group.

"Younglings: Present. Current state: Unable to come off transport."

"What?" Ratchet barked, hurrying over. "They couldn't have gotten hurt or anything, unless…" His voice trailed off as he entered the transport and saw the scene before him. "Oh. I see."

"See what?" Nightshade said, having followed the Autobot CMO. "Are Siren and…oh." A smile slowly spread across her faceplates.

Eight younglings were sprawled out on their seats, all in deep stages of recharge.

"Looks like they're all out cold." Thundercracker said, having come up alongside Nightshade with the rest of the group. His optics landed on a pair of blue thrusters darker than his own armor color, and his smile only broadened.

"Out of the way, fools!" Starscream barked, shoving past his trinemate and Nightshade. Reaching his goal, he gently picked up one of the Seekers-the red and white femme- and then proceeded to shove past Optimus and the others, heading for the transport's exit.

"Starscream! For the love of-could you at least try to show some patience?!" Nightshade snapped, glaring at the Decepticon Air Commander's back. There was no answer as Starscream left, and she bristled slightly.

"One of these days, I should just…nnggh!!"

"Nice to see that Starscream's concerned." Sideswipe muttered. Sunstreaker had made a beeline for Polarity, gently picking up the silver-gray mech in his arms. Soundwave was leaning over Siren, who was curled up against Lifeline.

"She looks exhausted." Nightshade whispered as she came up next to Soundwave, gently reaching out to stroke her daughter's head.

"Ratchet: Appointment for Siren tomorrow." Soundwave rumbled, picking up his recharging youngling. The Autobot CMO suppressed the urge to roll his optics, gently scooping up Lifeline.

"If it makes you feel better." He grumbled, though he was running his own series of scans over Lifeline's prone form.

"Excuse me, coming though-" Dirge said, moving past with his own armful of unconscious youngling Seeker-a forest green Conehead.

"Ditto." Thundercracker rumbled, following Dirge with his own youngling.

"Alright, if you're that concerned about their health, I'll have First Aid free up appointment slots for tomorrow." Ratchet announced as he started to exit the transport. "Ironhide, I think that goes double for you-Nightfire looks like she's been in her fair share of fights."

"Will do." The black mech rumbled. Nightfire murmured in her recharge, unconsciously moving her head closer to Ironhide's spark chamber. The Autobot weapons specialist smiled at this.

"Put Artemis down for the first appointment please." Optimus said, and then smirked at the dirty looks sent his way from the other 'bots. "What? You had a chance to call for it first."

"Optimus Prime: Unfair."

"Soundwave: Overprotective and a worry bot." Optimus countered.

"Alright, alright, settle down." Elita ordered. "Let's just get them all settled in for now." She smiled at her daughter, stroking one of her audios. "At least now things can get back to normal here."

* * *

(sags) There it is...please, be kind. And I assure you, chapter 2 will start explaining many, many, many things.

Side note: Lifeline and Polarity are orphans that were adopted by Ratchet and Sunstreaker respectively, the same goes for Thundercracker and Dirge's younglings (who are named Sidewinder and Whirlwind) While I'll have an explaination on them in this story, they are the focus of a joint fic VioletLight and I are working on together.


	2. Vacation

**_AN: _**[bow] Hello.

I will be brutally honest-I've been holding down three jobs and struggling to find a 4th for the past several months. I've been sick repeatedly, my car broke down again, and I had major computer problems. Only recently have I found the time to get back into the fandom, but that's only due to because I got fired from one job without any reason given [and it did not help it was the one that paid my rent]

I have been feeling truely awful and like a major heel for promising an update which never came. You guys have supported me though _Sparks_, and I still feel as if I am a major letdown to you all. But thankfully, there has now been a light at the end of my tunnel, in the form of me being offered a better [in this case, less stressful and less bad to my health] job. I am hoping I'll only have to work 2 jobs instead of 3 if things work out, and with the job, more writing time has opened up for me.

For those fellow writers that I read and review, I'll be catching up this weekend-and to my fellow readers, all I can ask is for your forgiveness.

I do not own Transformers. Barricade and Flamewar, along with Siren, Nightshade, and Starburst belong to Violetlight. Sunshadow belongs to Litahatchee. Thanks to her, Hearts of Eternity, and Violet for betaing this chapter for me. Patchwork is also property of Hearts. I also owe Violet another set of thanks for letting me take a few of her ideas portrayed in Vapour Trails and letting me put my own spin on them.

---------------------------------------------

_**Vacation**_

Prowl grinned crookedly as he kept pressing the door buzzer. Despite the arrival of Artemis and the others, there was still work that had to be done.

"I know you're online in there." He called out, pressing the buzzer button again. "So get your hands off her and let's go!" This statement was punctuated with several more buzzes. Then the doors were flung open and Prowl found himself having to bite back a smile as one very angry femme glared at him.

"Go. Away."

"Sorry Flamewar, but I need your mate today." Prowl answered, sliding past the Decepticon femme and into the quarters she and Barricade shared. "I promise, he'll be back in time for you to jump all over him again and repeat what happened the last time you two had an evening together." Then the Autobot 2IC raised an optic ridge as a pair of gyro-blades slammed into the wall on his left side.

"Barricade."

"You like jokes too much, Autobot." Barricade snarled. "In face, I owe you for-" Before he could finish the sentence, the sound of clicks and squeaks filled the air.

"You idiot, you woke them up!" Flamewar snarled, pushing past Prowl and her mate to go into a little room on the side.

"I woke them up?! Talk to the fragger here, he woke them up!" Barricade retorted. Flamewar emerged from the room, two little sparklings eagerly wiggling about in her arms. Like their creators, both had black and white paintjobs. One of them however, had a yellow blanket tucked about her. Seeing their father, both sparklings started to squeak excitedly.

"Put away your weapon Barricade, you don't want your little femmes turning into Nightfire or Sunshadow, now do you?" Prowl asked, a smug smile appearing on his faceplates. Barricade shot his fellow black-and-white the dirtiest of all possible looks, raising one clawed hand.

"I am going to-oomph!" For the yellow-blanketed sparkling was suddenly in his arms. "Flamewar!"

"Feed your daughter." The femme snapped. Barricade looked down at the yellow blanket, and felt his right optic twitch.

"Flamewar…she has…this…_thing_ on." He said.

"Don't you dare try to take away Armitage's blanket again." Was the answering growl. To this Barricade bit back a snarl, fixing Prowl with a nasty glare.

"One day Autobot, you will regret all the trouble you've caused with me." He rumbled.

"Stop grumping. A situation's come up that requires your particular skills." Prowl countered. Barricade paused in trying to pull the yellow blanket off his sparkling.

"Situation?"

* * *

Ratchet considered the scene in front of him. It was still early (very early!) in the morning, and it appeared that two little younglings had made an attempt to report for medical duty. 'Made' being the operative word, as both of them were currently sprawled out on recharge berths, dead to the world.

_Little fragger's gotten sneakier, or I must be old-I didn't hear him leave our quarters last night. _He thought, coming over and gently putting a hand on Lifeline's head. The youngling mumbled at the touch, turning over. The Autobot CMO smiled, and then turned his attentions to the second youngling-Siren.

_Running low on energy-well, that's no surprise. _He could remember his own days of training. _However, I never got the chance to take a nap-every time you tried; you set yourself up for trouble. _Ratchet suppressed a shudder, remembering Patchwork. Oh yes, all the younglings today-First Aid included-had it light and easy compared to what he'd had to go though.

_Patchwork would have eaten every single one of them alive. The bastard used to fragging __**kick**__ me off the berth whenever I was trying to get a few breems' worth of recharge! _Grinning wryly, Ratchet decided to leisurely wander off, get a nice warm cube of Energon. His appointments for the day were joors away, and it wouldn't hurt to give his little apprentices some more recharge time before he woke them up.

"I remember those orns." First Aid commented, coming up. "Little recharge, no Energon…"

"Shut up. You had it easy." To this, the Protectorbot opened his mouthplates as if to counter, and then closed them, judging that what he was about to say wasn't worth losing his head.

"Hnn."

"Bring me my Energon." Ratchet ordered, taking a seat at a nearby desk.

"Sir, I'm not your apprentice any-Aaahhhh!!!!"

_**CLANG.**_

"ENERGON! NOW!"

"Yessir!!"

* * *

Optimus leaned back in his chair, thoughtfully eying a screen in front of him. At the sound of the door opening and closing, his optics flicked over to the entrance, and then back to the report.

"Nightshade." He said without preamble.

"I thought you'd be with your family." The Decepticon leader said, moving over to the desk.

"I would be, but then this report from one of Jazz's agents sent this in late last night." Optimus answered, pressing a button for a screen to pop up in front of Nightshade. The femme read it, her optics narrowing.

"Is this good?"

"It seems to be legitimate so far." The red and blue mech answered. Nightshade frowned, reading over the report.

"You know, we could bring a nice and tidy end to this whole situation by just sending somebody in to cap the bastard." She said. "No muss, no fuss, his little idiots will fall apart and be easy pickings for our forces respectively."

"You know I'd say yes to that Nightshade, but I don't feel comfortable with doing that at this point." Optimus answered. "Not with this." He gestured to the screen.

The current Autobot/Decepticon alliance-while stronger than it's initial vorns, had run into heavy opposition on both sides. The worst of it at the start had come from the Deceptions- Nightshade was Megatron's mate. Leader of a group of Decepticon femmes that had escaped from Cybertron during Floatila's destruction, she had just stepped into the void left behind by her mate's death and assumed overall command.

The first problem was that with Megatron's death, Starscream had technically been second in command. However at the time, Starscream had been…indisposed, his spark held in stasis in the Decepticon base on Mars. With that incapacitation, Soundwave was then the next in line-and the Autobots had assumed he had taken over Megatron's duties.

They were wrong. Soundwave had become Nightshade's mate during the previous vorns, keeping his position as Communications Officer and serving as Nightshade's personal advisor. Instead of issuing an invitation for Nightshade to challenge him for the Decepticon leader position, he had simply allowed the femme to take over. And adding to the matter was their sparkling…a little femme named Siren. A little…odd, Optimus mused, but at the time he'd been grateful to not deal with Soundwave and that Starscream was out of the picture. Things had gotten off to a bumpy start, but with the addition of the Styxia colonists, things had started to work out…

Until Starscream had made a comeback. Possessed of a new frame and fully recovered, Megatron's Air Commander was quick to place himself in a position where he could easily challenge and beat Nightshade for Decepticon leadership. Nightshade was quick to counter this threat…in a very…again, odd was the only word Optimus could think of to describe it- way. Once he had learned the details, the Autobot leader had decided that it was best that he keep his mouthplates shut and out of the matter entirely, considering that he highly disapproved of what had happened next.

The end result was Starscream settling down-sharing joint second-in-command with Soundwave, and another sparkling for Nightshade, another little femme that was named Starburst. Optimus was certain that it had taken all of Elita's personal willpower and then some to not object to the relationship that was now ongoing-something that completely bogged the Autobots' minds-bonded pairs and unbounded 'bots alike. However silence was golden, they had bigger problems, and so it was unofficially decreed that all vocalizers be kept mute on the matter. And it had been a very good thing they had decided to leave it alone, Optimus thought.

With the Autobots and Decepticons deciding to stop hostitlies and try to live together in peace, it had only seemed natural that 'bots in both factions wouldn't agree with the new way things were going, and even more natural for them to leave. What nobody had anticipated though, was the creation of another faction-the Malignus faction. Lead by a mech named Straxus, it was mostly made up out of the absolute _worst_ of the Decepticon forces-mechs that Megatron himself had deemed too dangerous for Decepticon society. Autobots that Optimus Prime had also deemed too violent also joined. With his troops assembled, Straxus had gone about his mission-destroying the fragile truce that was between the Autobots and Decepticons. When that had failed, he then deemed the leaders of the respective factions traitors, announcing his intent to conquer what remained of the population and become the sole ruler of Cybertron.

So the fighting continued…but thankfully for the war-weary population, not as violent as it had once been. Early counters by both Optimus and Nightshade had ensured that Straxus and his minions were isolated from the bulk of the population and precious energy supplies. It was hoped that the…rebellion, so to speak, would be crushed then and there.

Nobody had anticipated though, the fighting to last _this _long.

* * *

Prowl watched as Barricade stalked silently about the abandoned warehouse, stopping occasionally to bend over and examine an item.

"Well?" He asked. Barricade grunted, rising.

"Looks like they were defiantly up to something alright." His red optics cast over the interior of the building. "What, I can't tell. There's not enough left for me to theorize on."

"A weapon you think?"

"Knowing that lot? I'd say yes." Barricade carefully inspected a fragment of metal. "But I thought they were trying to be more quiet about it-didn't your Special Ops report that a senator or two is probably helping Straxus with funding and Energon?" This elicited a dark scowl from Prowl, who crossed his arms.

"If that's proven, it'll destabilize everything. Nightshade's been after Optimus for vorns to have rule just be between him and her."

"Something you know would be the best for all of us." Barricade smoothly countered, looking up. "Having a Senate was what made us start fighting in the first place!" Prowl held up a hand.

"We're not going there." He said. "We're not going there, we're not starting that discussion again. Right now, we've got a job to do."

"You know this is a discussion that's going to be had at some point." Barricade challenged. Prowl shook his head.

"Not now. Focus on the matter at hand here." He ordered, though internally, his gears were churning. Even though Malignus had been isolated, it had only been fuel for the same argument he had just avoided with Barricade.

_Nightshade didn't want a Senate in place-her and the other Decepticons. It was only because there were so many civilians that she had to relent. _He thought to himself. Barricade looked about the room, scanning it again-and then stopped.

"I think I found something." He said, moving over to a pile of debris. Deftly he started to push it to the sides with his claw-like hands, until- "Ah-hah."

"What is it?" Prowl asked, coming up behind him. Barricade held up a small cube, intently scanning it.

"Some sort of blueprints. And…" The black and white mech frowned. "…Allspark runes."

"Allspark runes?" Prowl repeated. Barricade nodded.

"This looks like…they were constructing some sort of cube…" He trailed off as an idea hit him. "You don't think that…" The other black-and-white had reached the same conclusion, optics widening.

"…No. He's crazy…but not that…"

"If what your 'bots found out about his funding is true, then it would explain a great number of things." Barricade said gravely.

"But that was made forbidden! Simply because…" Prowl trailed off. "Primus. We need to report to this to Optimus and Nightshade immediately!"

"You're telling me."

------------------------------------

AN: Next chapter, more about the younglings is revealed.


End file.
